Salomé: Woman of Valor will have its premiere March 8-10 at the 2018 Chutzpah! festival

Chutzpah! 2018

There is a Wilde connection in the story of how acclaimed poet Adeena Karasick and Grammy Award-winning composer Frank London met. Both New York City-based artists — the firebrand wordsmith and and the trumpeter/composer — had issues with Oscar Wilde’s 1891 tragedy Salomé.

Misogynistic, antisemitic and loaded with additional messy subtexts, the play had become something of a juggernaut over the decades with film and stage adaptations aplenty. Its title character — the daughter of King Herod and Herodias — is a Biblical biggie, whose name had often become synonymous with “deadly female cunning.”

Any time that becomes your tag line, it’s probably time for reappraisal. The spoken word opera Salomé: Woman of Valor aims to do just that.

Poet Adeena Karasick. PNG

“Frank heard me perform and called me up to be the poetry coordinator of KlezCanada website which he was artistic director of for five years,” said Karasick.

“From that, we discussed collaborating and came upon the idea of working on Salomé because we both really felt that she had been hard done by history as a powerful Jewish presence. I wrote the text, he would go create music for that poem/piece and it grew into this beautiful, incredibly passionate, twisted dark love story that re-inserts Salomé into history as something other than a victim.”

Salomé: Woman of Valor serves up the story of the lead character on a different platter than the version most have come to know. Which, as London and Karasick both note, is actually the Wilde and not the Biblical version. There are some pretty massive differences, and the duo decided it was time for a creative, expansive revision.

Here is a tale with its share of various intense transgressions, but with underlying female empowerment and a refreshing new take. Incorporating Karasick’s intense poetic delivery, London’s compositions and live dance, their Salomé: Woman of Valorwill have its premiere March 8-10 at the 2018 Chutzpah! festival, and is one of this year’s highlights.

Composer Frank London.Adrian Buckmaster /
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“These big projects that I do percolate for a long time and when they won’t go away, they have to be achieved,” said London.

“The interest in Salomé came when Jenny London showed me the 1923 Charles Bryant silent film version of the story which has become a total cult classic in queer culture because not only was everyone who worked on it gay, but it’s so completely over the top and campy. That started the juices flowing, and I was also interested in creating a new dance piece, so the story of Salomé is all about dance, obsession and the consequences of both.”

Both London and Karasick were bothered by the way the story was told, however. Wilde was to blame.

“She is just this pouty, spoiled character and there should be a different take on her,” said London. “And I knew Adeena with her academic pursuits would tell the story differently.”

“It’s this incredibly passionate, messed-up and obsessive love story that has been reassesed,” said Karasick. “Now she can be seen as a powerful and seen as something other than a weak, mistreated victim.”

With Karasick’s powerful poetry and script, original live music performed by Frank London with Indian percussionist Deep Singh and Middle Eastern keyboard player Shai Bachar and choreographed and performed by New York-based dancers Rebecca Margolick and Jessie Zaritt, the show also includes video by Elizabeth Mak, which recreates moments from Bryant’s 1923 silent film. Alex Aron (co-creator of A Night in the Old Marketplace), directs and the performance is presented in association with The Dance Centre.

“It’s enabled us to play to each of our specialties, with my focus on text incorporated into the language and screen with playful avant-garde techniques,” said Karasick. “Then there is Frank’s brilliant music, and all the other contributors to make something that has many parts and is on its way to being a really exciting experience. I’m not usually a team player, so it has been a really exciting learning curve to collaborate on something of this scope.”

Both the lead creators say that they can’t imaging a life outside of Salomé at the moment and is looking forward to it being a presented thing. She went to see The Greatest Showman and thought “Salomé needs trapeze, I think.”

“So I’m certainly looking to have it premiere and go on tour,” she said.”The text has already been published and toured and translated and I toured that book all over Europe. The libretto just was published and will be available for purchase at the show for anyone who wants to follow along.”

Five must-see acts

With such a wide selection of music, comedy, dance and multimedia choices, there is a good deal to be excited about at this year’s festival. Here are five recommended shows to consider.

Barbara Adler. Jorge Posada /
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Ten Thousand Wolves and Jake Klar

When: Feb. 24, 8 p.m.

Where: Fox Cabaret

From her award-winning slam poetry to leading numerous and increasingly adventurous musical acts, Barbara Adler is a force to be reckoned with doing an enormous amount to keep the music scene alive and kicking in this very challenging city. She makes her festival debut with her group Ten Thousand Wolves presenting a large scale work called Decoy, with 8-piece band playing folk-tinged songs with poetic narrative, projection and object theatre. American singer-songwriter and poet Jake Klar opens.

Ezralow Dance: Open

When: Feb. 15 – 17, various times

Where: Norman Rothstein Theatre

This is a Canadian premiere for the latest from choreographer Daniel Ezralow, an American artist known for work that is both explosively physical but never lacking in whimsy and frequent humour.

Mary Walsh.Submitted photo /
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An Evening with Mary Walsh

When: March 6, 8 p.m.

Where: Norman Rothstein Theatre

Yes, it’s that Mary Walsh. The comic and social activist known for her ability to blast politicians with bolts of wit and keep the country on point and laughing presents an evening of some of her most celebrated moments from Dancing with Rage, CODCO, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and more.

Members of MM Contemporary Dance company.Riccardo Panozzo /
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Bolero and The Rite of Spring

When: March 1 – 3, 8 p.m.

When: Norman Rothstein Theatre

MM Contemporary Dance is based in Reggio Emilia, Italy, and directed by company dancer and choreographer Michele Merola. This evening will present Merola’s Maurice Ravel’s Bolero, with additional integrated contemporary composition from composer Stefano Corrias, and choreographer Enrico Morelli’s version of Stravinski’s The Rite of Spring.

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Troker

When: Feb. 17, 8 p.m.

Where: Rickshaw Theatre

This 19-plus performance showcases Mexico’s heavy, funky, danceable, jazz, punk, folk, everything group Troker. Its shows are as high-energy as its music is unclassifiable.

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